As is known among sugar cane producers, sugar cane harvesting machines are currently equipped with rotating discs that have coupled to their circumference steel knives which are responsible for cutting the sugar cane. However, due to the intense cutting activity executed closely to the ground, conventional blades manufactured with hardened steel quickly experience considerable wear on the cutting edges. This wear forces the machine operator to make constant replacements of the blades. Replacement of the knives results in undesirable machine shutdown because each knife is fixed on the rotating disc by two bolts. The operator has to lay below the rotating disc in order to take off the two bolts and the knife with a wrench. This replacement process usually happens in unfavorable locations, i.e., in the cane field, with poor lighting because of the position of the operator. Next, the operator has to fix the new knife on the disc with the respective bolts, and repeat the same replacement operation on the other knives with dull cutting edges. It should be emphasized that during these knife replacements, the bolts used to secure the knives to the rotating disc are often lost in the vegetation. Because of these inconveniences, the blade replacements cause machine shutdowns and end up reducing the productivity of sugar cane cutting operation.
Another concern is that the existing steel knives have considerable size, weighing approximately 1 kg, and are typically constructed in a single-piece design. This single-piece design is a non-economical feature because short term replacements are inevitable due to wear of the cutting edges. These replacements result in an increased cost of the sugar cane cutting operation.